AMD today announced immediate availability of the new AMD Embedded G-Series processor, the world's first and only Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) for embedded systems. The AMD Embedded G-Series, based on AMD Fusion technology, delivers a complete, full-featured embedded platform and incorporates the new low-power, x86 CPU based on the "Bobcat" core with a world-class DirectX 11-capable GPU and parallel processing engine on a single piece of silicon.

"AMD's commitment is to ensure the game-changing technologies we develop for consumers and the enterprise are also available for the vast and growing embedded market," said Patrick Patla, corporate vice president and general manager, Server and Embedded Division, AMD. "Today, we have a record number of embedded launch partners. They are using the unique advancements of the AMD Embedded G-Series APU to develop a brand new generation of highly differentiated, energy-efficient, small form-factor embedded systems that can deliver the vivid visual experience expected in our always-connected world."

This new class of accelerated processor combines more compute capabilities on a single die than any processor in the history of computing and represents opportunity for major advancements in embedded systems.

No solution with this level of advanced computing is available for the embedded market today.

Numerous embedded systems based on the AMD Embedded G-Series are available today or expected to launch in the coming weeks from companies including Advansus, Compulab, Congatec, Fujitsu, Haier, iEi, Kontron, Mitec, Quixant, Sintrones, Starnet, WebDT, Wyse, and many others.

Expected products include graphics-intensive solutions like digital signage, internet-ready set top boxes, mobile and desktop thin clients, casino gaming machines, point-of-sale kiosks, and small form factor PCs, as well as numerous single board computers (SBCs).

Shane Rau, research director of Computing and Storage Semiconductors at IDC, expects shipments of processors for embedded systems to increase at a double digit rate each year for the next five years.

AMD has assessed many of the trends shaping today's embedded market, including the ever-pressing need for power efficiency and a small footprint, along with high CPU performance, full feature sets, and a strong graphics solution. The embedded market is one where differentiation can be critical to the long-term success of a design. The AMD Embedded G-Series APU provides a small, open and flexible platform where system designers can be creative yet still meet strict requirements around development cost.

Design and Development Support

The open development ecosystem for the AMD Embedded G-Series platform includes multiple BIOS options, support for various Microsoft Windows, Linux, and real-time operating systems, the integrated OpenCL programming environment, and source-level debug tools.

AMD provides a dedicated design support team to help customers create distinctive new products and bring them to market quickly.

AMD server guys should take this a step further and release an Opteron based on this die, for NAS servers, home servers, and embedded devices. I'm talking about branded devices, such as QNAP NAS, HP home servers, etc.

That market is not about benchmarks. It's about cost, size, board size, power/heat and the level of component integration.

In those areas we rock.

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If the performance of this would be less than an old single core Atom and the GPU worse then intel's 945 GMA, There would be no real point to this now would there? Performance does matter a little at least.

The AMD Fusion thing looks promising, hopefully we'll see it with this, hope you blow our socks off AMD I desperately wanted an AMD netbook or 11~12" laptop, but nothing had the battery life I wanted and ran too hot. Once fusion gets into netbooks or ultra-portables, I'm jumping on them for sure.

Now I am anxious to know any specifics about this.

Passive cooling should be an option. Maybe the fan is a just in case they want to fit it in something small with no or almost no airflow?

If the performance of this would be less than an old single core Atom and the GPU worse then intel's 945 GMA, There would be no real point to this now would there? Performance does matter a little at least.

The AMD Fusion thing looks promising, hopefully we'll see it with this, hope you blow our socks off AMD I desperately wanted an AMD netbook or 11~12" laptop, but nothing had the battery life I wanted and ran too hot. Once fusion gets into netbooks or ultra-portables, I'm jumping on them for sure.

Now I am anxious to know any specifics about this.

Passive cooling should be an option. Maybe the fan is a just in case they want to fit it in something small with no or almost no airflow?

Click to expand...

Pre-release numbers seem to suggest the CPU portion blows Atom out of the water. In heavy CPU task at the same TDP and power consumption, nothing came close. I can't say for sure, but this is why Intel and Nvidia decided to put their boxing gloves away for now; so they can work together "so to speak" on a single chip solution to compete here quickly.

Passive cooling is not only possible, but we have already seen an ITX mobo with this chip and a passive heatsink. I guess you have not been on TPU for the last few days. You idea for a netbook around that size with this chip is very very likely.

Here are some links to give you an idea of what to expect as far as products for this chip:

That is why this is such a great product. If you are building a digital signage solution, for example, you have a single APU vs. a CPU and a discrete card in a slot. Lower power, no card in a socket (better reliability), smaller form factor, lower cost - everything that you would want.

Looking at current AMD roadmaps, that's coming somewhere in 2012.
The GPU probably won't have those many shader ALUs, but it will use vec4 shaders and thus become a bit faster even if they maintain the shader amount.